Question

What organism did people want the cane toads to control and why?

Answer 1

New research on cane toads in Northern Australia has discovered a way to control the cane toad invasion using parasites and toad communication signals. Biologists says that controlling toads has been difficult as things that kill them will often kill frogs. Professor Shine and his team studied cane toads in Queensland that lagged behind the invasion front and found they were infected with a lungworm parasite which slows down adults and, in laboratory tests, kills around 30% of baby toads.

Answer 2

The cane toad has spread widely and now occupies more than 1.2 million square kilometres of Australia. It is fatally poisonous to predators such as the northern quoll, freshwater crocodiles, and several species of native lizards and snakes. Previous attempts to sequence the cane toad, by WA researchers more than 10 years ago, were not successful, largely because the existing technology could not assemble the genetic pieces to create a genome. But thanks to new methods, we have succeeded in piecing together the entire genetic sequence.Current measures such as physical removal have not been successful in preventing cane toads from spreading, so fresh approaches are needed. One option may be to use a virus to help control the toad population. New research on cane toads in Northern Australia has discovered a way to control the cane toad invasion using parasites and toad communication signals. Biologists says that controlling toads has been difficult as things that kill them will often kill frogs. Professor Shine and his team studied cane toads in Queensland that lagged behind the invasion front and found they were infected with a lungworm parasite which slows down adults and, in laboratory tests, kills around 30% of baby toads.